chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035
CHAPEL HILL -- With the Bradshaw Quarry Convenience Center's closing date looming, Orange County residents concerned about the issue's absence on meeting agendas continue to request dialogue with the Board of Commissioners.
Tonight's County Commission meeting, scheduled at 7 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, marks the last meeting before the convenience center's closing date Sept. 20.
The issue once again failed to make the meeting agenda, and residents have received no indication that the board has revisited its decision, said Bonnie Hauser of Orange County Voice.
"We're trying our best to be brief, constructive and polite, but the community does not feel like they're getting the same respect from the board," Hauser said.
The county commissioners and Frank Clifton, interim county manager, were unavailable for comment.
At the meeting, the residents will ask the commissioners to postpone the convenience center's closing until residents can engage in a dialogue with the county, Hauser said. Since it seems that the decision to close the site was rushed by budgetary issues and based on an incomplete solid waste plan, Hauser said, residents also want the County Commission to delay destruction until the solid waste plan can be completed.
"The Solid Waste Department is making recommendations based on a decision that has not been made," Hauser said. "At least the board should ask the county, even if they close Bradshaw Quarry, they should not allow the county to tear it down until plans are finished."
Doug Guild of the Solid Waste Advisory Board said that the County Commission's decision to close Bradshaw Quarry was based more on budgetary needs than on the unfinished solid waste plan. But he said that the advisory board wanted more community input before finalizing the plan.
Other arguments the residents plan to make at tonight's meeting include presenting a letter from the convenience center's landowner stating he's happy to renew the lease -- since the county commissioners had cited his unwillingness to renew the lease as an obstacle in keeping the site open -- and protesting the extension of curbside recycling. The curbside recycling will add a $38 per household fee in 2010, while Bradshaw Quarry cost less than $25 per family per year, Hauser said.
But besides just the cost inequities, Hauser said, residents in the Bradshaw Quarry service area don't want the curbside recycling service.
"A lot of people that live out in the country have long driveways or driveways that are not easily accessible for the trucks," Guild said. "Instead of going down a long driveway to leave their stuff, they're probably going to wait and take it to a convenience center."
